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venerdì 11 aprile 2014

Turin woman dies after taking 'abortion pill'

Expert denies first Italian death linked to mifepristone

(ANSA)
- Turin, April 11 - A Turin woman has become the first Italian
fatality possibly linked to the emergency contraceptive mifepristone,
the so-called 'abortion pill'. The woman, 37, died at Turin's Martini
Hospital after an abortion brought on by the pill, known in Italy by
its former name, RU486. An autopsy has been ordered.

The
hospital linked the death to a reaction to the pill but Italy's top
expert on abortions, Turin gynecologist Silvio Viale, said the death
was probably caused by sedatives which have been known to trigger
cardiac arrest. Viale claimed there was only one fatality due to
RU486, in France in 1991, but in that case too it was caused by
complications "rather than the drug itself". "I feel
obliged to warn against any instrumental exploitation of this death,"
said Viale, head of Italy's largest abortion ward at Turin's
Sant'Anna hospital. Since its introduction in several countries more
than 25 years ago there have been a handful of deaths allegedly
linked to the pill, including eight cases of "lethal
intolerance" in the United States.

Mifepristone
has long had a symbolic significance transcending its medical use.
When it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2000,
advocacy groups insisted that it would change the nature of
abortions, taking them out of clinics, where women might face
harassment by abortion opponents, and into the privacy of a doctor's
office. Abortion opponents said it was dangerous and would lead to
suffering and deaths.

Neither
turned out to be right as almost 90% of abortions continued to be
carried out in clinics while the drug was judged "safe and
effective" by US medical authorities. In Italy, where many
doctors and pharmacists are Catholic conscientious objectors to
abortion, women have often found it hard to get mifepristone even on
a prescription. The pill was first administered in Italy on April 7,
2010, at a hospital in the southern city of Bari, as a group of
pro-life activists protested outside. From 2006 to 2009 Italian
hospitals ran some 200 tests using the RU486 pill, importing it from
France. The April 2010 case was the first time that the so-called
abortion pill had been purchased directly from its Italian
distributors.

According
to Italian law the RU486 pill - not to be confused with the
morning-after pill that has been in use in Italy since 2000 - can be
taken by women up until the 49th day of pregnancy under medical
supervision in hospital, offering an alternative to surgical
abortion. During the three-year experimental phase the pill was
administered to day-hospital patients. RU486 was first introduced in
France in 1988 and is now used in most European countries including
Greece, Spain, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Its introduction in
Italy met with stiff opposition from the Catholic Church as well as
pro-life politicians and activists. Responding to ethical and health
concerns, the health ministry set up a standing committee to monitor
the use of the pill in Italian hospitals.

Ministry
officials expressed concern that regional governments could issue
different protocols for the drug, creating confusion and raising the
likelihood of improper use. Italy's National Pharmaceutical Agency
AIFA first approved the RU486 pill in July 2009 but its use was put
on hold during a Senate inquiry into concerns over its safety and
compatibility with Italian abortion laws.

The
inquiry gave way to a bitter debate inside and outside parliament,
with Catholic Church officials threatening excommunication for anyone
who took or prescribed the new drug. The rate of abortions in Italy
has been falling over recent years and is one of the lowest in the
West. According to the latest figures, for 2012, the number of
abortions performed in Italy has been decreasing while the number of
doctors who are conscientious objectors to the procedure has been on
the rise. In 2012, 105,968 abortions were performed, a decrease of
4.9% compared to the previous year, the report said.

The
report also found that the number of abortions dropped dramatically "
by almost 55% - compared with the figures for 30 years ago, while the
percentage of doctors refusing to do them rose by 17.3% between 1982
and 2012. The report said that the number of abortions peaked at
234,801 in 1982. An estimated 15,000 illegal abortions are also
carried out each year. Pro-choice activists have complained that a
growing number of pro-life medical practitioners are making it
tougher for women to obtain abortions. Under Italian law, doctors can
refuse to perform an abortion if it runs counter to their principles.

Recent
health ministry figures suggest that 70% of all Italian
gynaecologists are now 'conscientious objectors' compared to 58.7% in
2003 while 50.4% of anaesthetists are opposed to abortion, compared
to 45.7% in 2003.